A former aide and speech writer to former president George W. Bush, Michael Gerson, wrote an op ed this week for the Washington Post where he gave the Republican party yet another stern warning about Donald Trump. And he said in simplest terms, “Now is the time to panic.” But what separates Michael Gerson’s piece from all of the other pieces that have been coming out in recent weeks about conservatives freaking out over what Donald Trump is doing to the party is that Gerson is not just worried about what Trump is doing to the Republican party. Gerson is worried about what Donald Trump is doing to the country.

Now, Michael Steele has come out and said … he’s the former chairman of the RNC … and said that Donald Trump is threatening the future of the Republican Party. Joe Scarborough says that he left the Republican party because of Donald Trump. That’s all well and good, but Gerson’s right. It’s not just about what he’s doing to the Republican party. You’ve got to look beyond party identity at this point. It’s about what he’s doing to this country.

Now, to be fair, Gerson did talk about the damage Trump is causing to the Republican party, but that’s more of a side note. The real problem is the damage he’s doing to this country. It doesn’t matter if he’s a Republican or Democrat. We would be having these same conversations right now either way. 9 million children in this country lost funding for their health insurance program because of Donald Trump and the Republican controlled Congress. Trump just issued an executive order that’s going to force millions of people off their health insurance plans because premiums are going to increase by 20 to 25% over the next year or so.

We have a military budget that’s going through the roof, while at the same time, we can’t afford to keep the Meals on Wheels program going. Yeah, we gave the military an extra $80 billion, but we’re not going to worry about the elderly and people who are incapable of leaving their homes getting food. We just don’t care about that.

That’s not a left or a right issue at this point, folks, and I think that’s what Gerson’s trying to get at here. This is an issue of basic human decency. Children should be able to go to the doctor. It’s as simple as that. Children should be able to afford the medication that they need. So should the elderly. The elderly do have a right to eat, unlike what some Republicans have said. And it all flows from Trump.

Trump is destroying more than just the Republican party at this point. It’s the entire fabric of this country. This whole system of empathy that I thought we might’ve once had is being destroyed under Donald Trump, and that is what that former Bush speech writer was trying to point out.

Farron Cousins is the executive editor of The Trial Lawyer magazine and a contributing writer at DeSmogBlog.com. He is the co-host / guest host for Ring of Fire Radio. His writings have appeared on Alternet, Truthout, and The Huffington Post. Farron received his bachelor's degree in Political Science from the University of West Florida in 2005 and became a member of American MENSA in 2009. Follow him on Twitter @farronbalanced